


Nothing Feels Like You

by hypocorism



Category: Little Mix (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pet Store, Cats, F/F, Outer Space, Witches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-06
Updated: 2015-09-06
Packaged: 2018-04-19 09:52:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4741898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hypocorism/pseuds/hypocorism
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Perrie and Leigh-Anne are space explorers who try really hard, Jade is a witch, and Jesy isn't having any of it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nothing Feels Like You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [reachthetree](https://archiveofourown.org/users/reachthetree/gifts).



> Hiiii babe I hope you like this! I love you loads and you are so special and amazing!! I couldn't pick a prompt so I mashed them together and made Frankenmix ENJOY.
> 
> THANK YOU to Kayla hazalmighty for betaing this/putting up with all my frantic messages you are an angel.

Of the 530 days of their first year as PANDA commanders, Leigh-Anne and Perrie have been in trouble for approximately 527 of them. Even during their official vacation time, Perrie managed to accidentally introduce a highly invasive non-native flower into Planet Omega-22 and Leigh-Anne inadvertently flooded the entire ground floor of the ambassador to Planet Nu-6.

“Incoming call from...Admiral Lovato,” their ship’s AI intones.

“I told you she would know we’ve gone massively off course!” Perrie yelps.

“Well we didn’t really have a choice, did we?” Leigh-Anne replies, a little snippily. This whole thing was Perrie’s idea, after all. “Go make sure the thing is hidden.”

“Don’t call her a thing. Her name is Prada,” Perrie sniffs.

“I told you not to name her!” Leigh-Anne yells at Perrie’s retreating back. She turns back to the flashing screen.

“Don’t let the call through yet, Hatchi. Give us a minute.”

“Affirmative,” the AI says. “Would you like me to alert you when Commander Edwards has reached the cargo hold?”

“Yes, please,” Leigh-Anne says, wondering for one frantic moment if they can just turn all the ship’s lights off and hide.

“The Admiral has entered an override code. Prepare to,” Hatchi starts to say, just as the Admiral’s face appears on the comm screen.

“Commander Pinnock.”

“Yes, ma’am?” Leigh-Anne yanks her hands away from the controls and salutes guiltily, even though it doesn’t make it less obvious they were screening her call. Or, attempting to anyway.

“Where is Commander Edwards?”

“Performing a routine maintenance check on the shields, ma’am,” Leigh-Anne lies. The admiral doesn’t look like she buys it.

“Why have you veered so far off course? You and Commander Edwards are supposed to be heading back to base to receive new orders.”

“I’m afraid that we encountered a minor complication during our last mission.”

“That mission has been logged as completed.”

“Right,” Leigh-Anne says, biting her lip nervously. “It’s not exactly, though.”

“You were ordered to come back to base.”

“Hello, admiral!” Perrie chirps brightly, coming back into the cabin. “Sorry, I was just restocking the escape pods.”

“Right,” the admiral says drily.

“After you checked the shields, right Commander Edwards?” Leigh-Anne says, a little desperately.

“Is something wrong with the shields?” Perrie says, furrowing her brow in concern.

“Where is the pegacorn?” Admiral Lovato cuts in.

“We didn’t have a choice!” Perrie argues passionately, dropping the pretense of innocence. “She could have been killed if she stayed there any longer!”

“She _is_ just a baby,” Leigh-Anne points out. “There was definitely a clear and present danger.”

“You removed a member of a protected species against orders,” the admiral says sharply.

“We’re taking her home,” Perrie mutters.

“That was the job of the Pegacorn Protection Squad. Your job on Planet Tau-50 was to drop off the memory chip at the knowledge repository.”

“We couldn’t just leave her there to die,” Leigh-Anne points out. The admiral ignores her.

“When you find a protected species, what is the protocol?” the admiral asks, using the voice she normally reserves for lowly petty officers.

“Call it in, confirm pickup with the protection squad, and leave,” Perrie says sulkily.

“Are either of you trained in endangered species removal?” the admiral asks, in a way that implies she already knows the answer.

“No,” Leigh-Anne sighs.

“How soon can you land?”

“We will be arriving at Planet Epsilon-7 in approximately two hours,” Hatchi drones. “Planet Epsilon-7, colloquially called Neptune, is the home planet of...”

“The protection officers will meet you there,” the admiral breaks in smoothly. “Comm in when your mission is completed for further orders.” Perrie and Leigh-Anne salute as the screen goes dark. Leigh-Anne releases a long slow breath.

“I bet our next assignment is going to be horrible,” Perrie says gloomily.

“Probably.” Leigh-Anne sighs again. “Oh well, let’s snuggle Prada while we have the chance.” Perrie immediately brightens.

“She does seem a bit bored in the cargo hold and we do have two hours. Dress-up photoshoot?”

“Dress-up photoshoot,” Leigh-Anne agrees.

=

The protection officers look about as thrilled to see Leigh-Anne and Perrie as the commanders are to see them. They have a nice cozy crate for Prada, though, and they promise to make sure she’s returned to her family.

“Goodbye, Prada!” Leigh-Anne calls into the crate. The little pegacorn twinkles her horn purple in sleepy happiness before curling up on the soft cushion. Perrie insists they stay on the floating landing dock and wave until the shuttle disappears into the blue cloud cover. Leigh-Anne doesn’t fight her on it, even though Prada won’t see them and the protection officers won’t care. Neither of them are eager to return to the ship and find out the, no doubt horribly tedious, punishment Admiral Lovato has cooked up for them.

“I guess it’s time,” Perrie finally says, looking gloomily back at their ship. Leigh-Anne grabs her hand and squeezes it encouragingly.

“It’ll be okay. We’ll find a way to make it fun!” Perrie looks skeptical but she lets Leigh-Anne tug her up the ship’s ramp and settle her into her chair.

“Hatchi, open a communication link with Admiral Lovato,” Perrie says, hooking her ankle around Leigh-Anne’s in a show of solidarity. The call goes through almost immediately; clearly the admiral was waiting for them. She doesn’t seem quite so annoyed anymore, and the girls relax slightly.

“Commander Pinnock, Commander Edwards,” she says. “I’m afraid you will have to wait to return back to base.” Leigh-Anne fights to keep a relieved expression off her face. “An urgent assignment has come up on a nearby planet and you are the closest possible responders.” Leigh-Anne and Perrie exchange looks.

“Urgent?” Perrie says, her voice pitching up. “Are you sure...that is...we’ll do our best?” Admiral Lovato sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose.

“I’m afraid that time is of the essence. We can’t call anyone else in for this.”

“I’m sure it will be fine,” Leigh-Anne whispers to Perrie. Admiral Lovato ignores this and keeps speaking.

“As you know, the Empress of the PANDA cluster has recently adopted another cat, Olivia. Unfortunately, Olivia is not as in control of her powers as her sister, Meredith, and is still prone to random teleportation. Now that she has been located, she needs to be retrieved from the planet and brought home safely as quickly as possible.” Leigh-Anne thinks it’s a little ironic that they are being punished for picking up one protected creature by being ordered to go recover another, but she doesn’t mention this to the admiral. “Planet Epsilon-3 is a primitive planet unaware of the existence of the Intergalactic Council and the inhabitants are potentially violent, so exercise the utmost caution. Do not attempt to communicate with base until you achieve your objective. Don’t be spotted!” The screen goes dark as soon as Admiral Lovato finishes speaking. Perrie and Leigh-Anne exchange looks.

“It could have been worse?” Perrie finally says tentatively. Leigh-Anne groans and tilts her head back.

“Hatchi, what do they wear on Epsilon-3?” Leigh-Anne asks.

“Planet Epsilon-3, known locally as ‘Earth’, is one of the nine home planets of the cat species.”

“At least Olivia will blend in,” Perrie says.

“It is also inhabited by beings called ‘humans.’ Here are some examples of human clothing,” Hatchi continues, flashing up a slideshow on the cockpit screen.

“Cute outfits!” Perrie says excitedly. “And we look enough like them that we won’t have to wear those awful full-body morph suits.” Leigh-Anne shudders in agreement.

“Their auras look different from ours, though,” Leigh-Anne says thoughtfully. “Will they be able to tell?”

“Many humans do not believe in the existence of auras,” Hatchi responds. “Only a select few, known as witches, can see them.” Perrie cheers.

“What’s the likelihood we’ll run into one of those?”

“Approximately one in seven-hundred million,” Hatchi says.

“That was rhetorical, Hatchi!” Perrie snaps, before returning to her former good humor. “No morph suits! Just cute outfits!” Leigh-Anne grins at her.

“I’ll go grab a couple of the adjustable dresses and we can try out different looks.” Perrie claps her hands in excitement and turns back to the screen, swiping some of the pictures she really likes into a folder of clothing ideas.

They never get the outfits totally right on the first go, Leigh-Anne has ducked behind a tree or into an alley for a quick change more times than she can count, but after some minor adjustments she and Perrie stop getting weird looks.

“Right, we can totally do this,” Perrie says optimistically. “Find Olivia, get her back to the ship, and head back to base.”

“Did you remember to bring the tracking device?” Leigh-Anne says. Perrie pinches her.

“Not so loud!” she whispers.

“Sorry,” Leigh-Anne whispers back. “But did you?” Perrie nods, slipping the small screen out of her pocket briefly before tucking it out of sight again. All domesticated felines have tracking chips in case just this sort of issue arises. The young ones, especially, are prone to teleporting to far-away planets and then being unable to figure out how to get home.

“It’s set to get warmer the closer we get to her,” Perrie mutters. They walk in silence for a little while, Perrie pulling the device out to glance at the little blue dot of Olivia’s tracking chip whenever there’s no one around. “Not too far, I think.” Perrie wrinkles her forehead. “It’s starting to get dark. I hope she’s not in someone’s house.” Leigh-Anne is about to respond when Perrie swears and almost drops the tracker.

“What happened!?”

“I forgot to turn the warming setting back off,” Perrie says, shaking her hand and blowing on her fingers ruefully. Leigh-Anne giggles.

“Who thought that was a good idea anyway? They practically burn you when you get close enough.”

“Yes, I’m aware, Leigh-Anne,” Perrie exclaims. “Here, you take it.”

“So it can burn me?”

“I turned it off! Just make sure we’re in the right place.” Leigh-Anne eyes the thing suspiciously but doesn’t resist when Perrie shoves it into her hands.

“It looks like we’re here,” Leigh-Anne says doubtfully.

“Where’s here?” Perrie asks, glancing up. “‘Jesminda’s Pet Emporium,’” she reads slowly.

“It looks closed,” Leigh-Anne points out, pressing her nose up against the glass. It’s dark and deserted inside. Perrie heaves an annoyed sigh.

“We’re going to have to break in I guess,” she says dubiously. Leigh-Anne groans. Getting in and out of places unannounced isn’t really either of their strong suits. The last time Perrie tried to pick a lock, she broke something off in the door, got annoyed, and took the hinges off. Their storage closet still doesn’t close properly.

“Let me try first, please,” Leigh-Anne says.

“It was one time, Leigh-Anne,” Perrie hisses, probably also thinking of the storage closet incident. Maybe not, though; it actually wasn’t just one time. Leigh-Anne ignores her and peers into the lock.

“Use the tracker to shine some light on it. Ouch, no not in my eyes, Perrie!”

“Sorry! Your eyes were right next to it!”

“Did you bring a multipurpose tool?”

“I was in charge of the tracker!” Leigh-Anne huffs out an annoyed breath and reaches into her back pocket. She holds it in front of the lock, trying to gauge the best angle. “Just stick it in!” Perrie complains.

“That’s what she said,” Leigh-Anne says, voice solemn. Perrie giggles. Leigh-Anne slides the tool in and starts wiggling it. Perrie won’t stop laughing and it’s making the light bob around. “Hold it still,” Leigh-Anne says, suppressing her own laughter.

“I’m trying!” The tool breaks in the lock. “I told you! They _always_ do that,” Perrie says triumphantly. Leigh-Anne rolls her eyes.

“Have a plan b, Commander Edwards?”

“Obviously,” Perrie sniffs. She pauses for a minute, then lobs the tracker screen through the window.

“What the hell, Perrie!” Leigh-Anne yelps as dogs start barking from inside the building. “We’re supposed to be subtle!”

“Then stop yelling!” Perrie reaches through the window and unlocks the door, retrieving the tracker carefully from where it’s lying in the broken glass. Leigh-Anne follows close behind her, heading toward the sound of the animals.

“Shh,” Leigh-Anne says soothingly, “it’s just us! Some totally normal definitely human people coming to visit you.” Perrie sticks her fingers through the bars to pat the nearest dog and he quiets, eyeing them with affection rather than suspicion.

“I guess we need to just pet them all to quiet them down,” Perrie says. Leigh-Anne doesn’t contradict her, even though most of the animals have lain back down and stopped making noises by this point. “Aren’t you the sweetest little baby,” Perrie continues, to the dog this time. “Yes you are! Yes you are!”

Perrie finds Olivia first. She’s lounging regally on a cushion in a cage at the end of the second row.

“She’s here!” Perrie calls.

“Thank goodness,” Leigh-Anne says, relieved. “Let’s grab her and get out of here.”

“Olivia, are you excited to come back with us to see your mummy?” Perrie says, voice pitched up. Olivia shoots them an unimpressed look and starts grooming herself. Perrie shrugs and starts unlatching the cage.

“Hold it right there,” someone says from the doorway behind them. Perrie and Leigh-Anne spin around guiltily. “I don’t know what kind of children’s movie villain scheme you two have going on here, but get the hell away from my animals.”

“Um,” Perrie says.

“We just want our cat back!” Leigh-Anne exclaims. “How did you get her here anyway? How do we know you didn’t kidnap her?” Perrie gives her a weird look and Leigh-Anne raises her eyebrows meaningfully.

“Oh. Right!” Perrie says. “You...cat thief! What kind of establishment is this!?”

“What the hell are you two on about?” The woman in the doorway is looking at them in complete confusion, but she’s lowered the baseball bat she’s wielding back to the ground so Leigh-Anne counts it as a win.

“We’ll just take our cat and go,” Perrie says, scooping up Olivia. She tosses her hair dramatically and attempts to flounce out of the room, but is thwarted by the human blocking her path.

“How do I know she’s your cat?” she asks suspiciously. “Why didn’t you come during business hours instead of breaking in here in the middle of the night?” Perrie shoots Leigh-Anne a panicked glance.

“Uh. We can’t sleep if we don’t know she’s safe?”

“Right,” the woman says slowly. “She’s been here for three days, though. Seems like you slept fine before.”

“Right, well,” Leigh-Anne starts. Before she can make up an excuse of some kind, though, Olivia completely blows their cover. She’s been wriggling around in Perrie’s arms, giving the occasional irritated meow, throughout the conversation. Just as Leigh-Anne starts speaking, Olivia vents her annoyance in one final yowl, and promptly teleports across the room and back onto her cushion.

The human drops her baseball bat.

“Did that cat just...” she whirls around to look at them, narrowing her eyes. “Right. I don’t know who you two are or what you’re doing here, but you aren’t leaving until I get to the bottom of this.”

Perrie opens her mouth, to say what Leigh-Anne has no idea, but the human is already leaving the room and pulling the door shut behind her. The lock clicks. Perrie huffs in annoyance and glares at Olivia.

“You couldn’t have waited five more seconds?”

“Or just zapped us all back to the ship,” Leigh-Anne adds gloomily.

“Where do you think she’s going?”

“Probably to fetch the mob and pitchforks.” Perrie snorts.

“Remember that time we got chased off Planet Delta-48 after you implied to the queen that she was ugly and terrible at sports?”

“Someone told me that phrase was a compliment!” Leigh-Anne protests.

“You really need to work on memorizing your colloquialisms. You can’t expect the auto translator to do all the work for you.”

“Says the girl who refused to shave her eyebrows off at a formal dinner on Planet Nu-5.”

“It’s a stupid tradition and they take forever to grow back!” Perrie says, then laughs. “You looked so ridiculous without eyebrows.”

“Shut up!” Leigh-Anne says, giggling. She pokes Perrie in the side and Perrie retaliates by attempting to tickle her. Leigh-Anne bumps into Olivia’s cage while trying to squirm away, and Olivia hisses in annoyance and leaps back out and onto Leigh-Anne’s lap. She flexes her claws slightly menacingly and then sits and looks up at both of them.

“You are right, Olivia,” Perrie says solemnly. “How dare we briefly forget that this is all about you?” Olivia blinks at her and meows. Leigh-Anne pets her absent-mindedly.

“How are we going to get out of this one,” she sighs.

=

“You are never going to believe what happened.”

“Jesy?” Jade asks, voice pitching up in confusion.

“Yes, it’s me.”

“Why are you still at work?”

“Jade, focus.”

“Sorry. I’m just saying, I bet you’ve sent everyone else home.”

“That’s beside the point!” Jesy hears rustling on the other end of the line and a door closing.

“I’m at a coven meeting. Is everything okay?” Jade asks.

“Kind of,” Jesy sighs. “It’s hard to explain. Just come down here.”

“Can it wait?”

“No.” Jade sighs in annoyance but her voice is fond when she speaks.

“Why do you have to be so mysterious all the time?”

“Not all the time. Just when it’s warranted.” Jade giggles.

“I’ll be there in ten minutes. This better be worth it! Sophie brought her dessert spellbook and we were going to make clairvoyant custard creams.”

“I’m fairly sure it’s worth more than some over-baked biscuits that can’t even predict how sick you’ll get from eating too many of them,” Jesy scoffed.

“You’re just jealous because none of your friends bake any human food. It’s all weird dog stuff.”

“Just hurry!” Jesy says, hanging up. Jade sticks her tongue out at the phone and goes to excuse herself from the meeting. No one kicks up too big of a fuss, although she does see a few looks exchanged behind her back. None of the other witches particularly like Jesy, ever since the second (and final) meeting she attended with Jade. She announced her general disbelief in magic and disdain for various members of the coven in a ‘whisper’ just slightly quieter than her normal booming volume, in spite of Jade’s repeated and increasingly aggressive elbows to the side.

It’s been...well, not _exactly_ a sore subject since then, but something they avoid talking about. Jade likes being a witch. She likes the rituals, even the ones Jesy deems silly and pointless. She likes having a group of people who are also Believers, even if she doesn’t love some of them as individuals. She likes having a place where she can talk about her experiences tapping into alien wavelengths and seeing a whole other world without being mocked. Yes, there are parts of what the coven does that sometimes seems a bit...silly to outsiders. But it makes her happy, and she wishes Jesy could appreciate that. To her credit, Jesy had never again made fun of the coven’s core beliefs, and she always backs off and apologizes if she ever sees Jade getting upset. But, it still leaves a huge part of her life that she can’t share with her best friend, and it sometimes gets frustrating.

Jade twists her hair up into a bun on top of her head in preparation as she waits at the back door of the pet shop for Jesy to let her in. The kittens tend to bat at the strands if she leaves it loose, which, while adorable, tends to end in tiny, painful claw marks. Jesy whips the door open and Jade freezes with her hands still in her hair.

“Why’ve you got a bat?” Jesy lowers the offending object quickly.

“Just get in here. I don’t know if there are more of them lurking around.”

“What?” Jesy waves her hand dismissively and tugs Jade into the shop. Once the door is firmly shut and locked, though, she doesn’t say anything. She just kind of stands there, staring at Jade. After a moment, Jade clears her throat. “Was there a reason you had me drive across town or?” she asks, voice teasing. Jesy huffs.

“Right. So I may have been wrong.” She looks mildly irritated with herself for admitting this, fingers tightening and loosening mindlessly on the bat.

“About what?” Jade asks, confused.

“The whole,” Jesy waves her free hand, “alien thing.” Jade just blinks at her, and Jesy heaves another annoyed breath. “So you and those witches are always banging on about, like, seeing another dimension or whatever?”

“It’s not another dimension,” Jade mutters. “It’s our same universe.” Jesy flaps her hand.

“Okay, yeah. But, like, other planets or whatever? Beings who look like us but aren’t? And they have all-powerful cat rulers who they follow around in spaceships?”

“It’s a little more complicated than...”

“I saw one. Well,” Jesy pauses, “two actually. Three?”

“What?” Jade says, eyes wide. Then she flinches. “Jesy, is this...if this is a joke it isn’t really funny. I know you think I’m stupid to believe but...” A look of hurt flashes across Jesy’s face.

“No, Jade I would never,” she purses her lips. “Okay, you’re right. I’m sorry I’ve been all,” she flaps her hands. “Whatever. Look, are they dangerous? Because I’ve locked them in a room and I need to know if they’re going to sacrifice my animals to their cat god or something.”

“Wait, what?”

“The aliens! That little white Scottish Fold I found last week? Apparently she’s one of these...is there a name for them? Cat god sounds really ridiculous.”

“I...don’t...”

“Anyway, two of them came to get her and...just come see!”

“Okay,” Jade says faintly, letting Jesy tow her toward the night kennels. The door that separates them from the rest of the shop, usually left open, is closed with a chair propped under the handle. Jesy hesitates, a hand on the chair.

“They’re not dangerous?” Jade blinks.

“Well,” she says, shaking her head slightly to clear it. “If they are aliens and not just burglars or something, no they aren’t dangerous.”

“Now you’re skeptical! They have a teleporting cat!”

“You make fun of me for this stuff all the time, Jesy, and now I’m not allowed to be skeptical?”

“I don’t make fun of _you_.”

“Just my friends and the people who agree with me,” Jade says, her voice sharp.

“Um,” someone says from behind the door. “I promise we aren’t dangerous!”

“Or burglars!” another voice says.

“Just please let us out and we can explain,” the first voice says. Jesy look suspicious but Jade sighs and reaches over to unlatch the door. Two girls practically fall on top of her as it swings open.

“Oh, thank you!” one of them, the first voice, sighs happily. “It was getting uncomfortable in there. My hand is about to fall off from petting so many dogs.” The other girl snorts, drawing Jade’s eyes.

“Like you could ever get tired of petting dogs,” she says, but Jade doesn’t hear her over the sound of her entire world shaking and crumbling around her. It’s _the girl_. The one that her visions always center around. The one that made her start to think that maybe the weirdly vivid daydreams she had could actually be real. The one that made her seek out other believers and led her to her coven. The one that she’s seen flying through space so many times that she practically knows her ship like the back of her hand. Her knees start to shake, her sight blurring around the edges.

“Are you okay?” the other girl asks, alarmed. She yanks the chair out of Jesy’s hands and pops it back open, gently guiding Jade into it. “Do you need some water or something?” Jade swallows and tries to speak, but nothing comes out.

Jesy, who had been staring at her with wide, anxious eyes, leaps into action. She dashes off toward the little bathroom sink and comes back with a full glass.

“Sip it,” she says, voice authoritative. Jade obeys, but she can’t stop staring at the girl over the rim of the glass. The girl shifts a little uncomfortably, brushing her hair back from her face.

“Sorry if we startled you?” she says, seemingly at a loss.

“You’re real,” Jade blurts out. The girl’s eyes dart to her friend, who shrugs.

“Are you okay?” Jesy asks. “Should I not have called you? I mostly just wasn’t sure if they were dangerous. I didn’t want to let them run off without getting your advice on what to do.”

“No,” Jade says faintly. “I’m glad you called me.” The first girl, the one Jade doesn’t recognize, throws her hands up.

“Right, I’m calling it. This mission is a failure. Look, I know your planet is primitive and violent,” Jesy bristles at this, but the girl doesn’t notice, “and we aren’t supposed to reveal ourselves, but what harm can it do at this point? You aren’t the only ones in the galaxy, we’re from a different planet, it’s all very shocking. Can we please have our cat back so we can go home?”

“Not until you answer some questions for Jade,” Jesy says, hands on her hips.

“Who’s Jade?” vision-girl asks. Jesy raises her eyebrows and gestures. “Um, okay. Sure. What do you want to know?” Jade’s breath catches as vision-girl actually looks at her. She doesn’t, usually. Jade’s point of view is generally off to the side, with the girl’s face half-hidden by her soft cloud of hair. It’s a lot, seeing her straight on like this. Jade swallows, trying to make some sort of sensible question come out of her mouth, but she just ends up choking on her own spit and coughing. Fantastic. Jesy pounds her on the back until Jade waves her off, still coughing a little.

“Um. Name?” she croaks, finally.

“I’m Perrie, and this is Leigh-Anne,” the blonde girl chirps. _Leigh-Anne,_ Jade repeats silently to herself. She might be staring a little because Leigh-Anne is giving her an odd look.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” she asks, voice tentative.

“She’s fine,” Jesy says gruffly, folding her arms. “Stop trying to change the subject.” Perrie rolls her eyes at this, tossing her long ponytail back over her shoulder in annoyance. Something about the movement catches Jade’s eye, and she gasps as she turns to look at Perrie. She hadn’t noticed it before, too focused on Leigh-Anne being here.

“You’ve got,” she waves her hand around her head. “Your aura is so...different.” Jesy looks at Jade in confusion.

“Different how?”

“It’s hard to explain,” Jade says slowly. Jesy’s never been able to see auras, so it’s hard to tell her what makes Perrie and Leigh-Anne’s so distinct. “They’re sort of...more fluid?” Leigh-Anne and Perrie exchange glances.

“What’s the likelihood we’ll run into a witch,” Leigh-Anne says, mimicking Perrie’s tone.

“Hatchi agreed it was really unlikely!” Perrie protests. “Anyway Olivia blew our cover first!”

“We won’t tell anyone,” Jade says quickly, eager to give the impression that she isn’t totally useless. Seeing Leigh-Anne was just surprising, okay? Jade normally is a very together young woman.

“I never agreed to that,” Jesy argues. “They broke into my shop. I’m going to have to replace that window pane.” Perrie and Leigh-Anne exchange glances.

“If you keep this to yourselves, we’ll show you our ship.”

“Perrie!” Leigh-Anne yelps.

“Deal,” Jade says. Jesy and Leigh-Anne both look annoyed, but Perrie looks pleased.

“See! I fixed it.” She bends over to pick up Olivia, who has followed them out into the hall and is winding around her ankles. “Now let’s go. I want to get home and take a proper bath. We only get these terrible timed showers on the ship.”

“So we don’t run out of water,” Leigh-Anne explains. Perrie flaps her hand like drinking water is less important than having a good soak. Jesy finds herself agreeing.

“Let me lock up the shop. Well, as well as I can considering the broken window,” Jesy says, but her tone is closer to teasing now. Jade looks so pleased to have an excuse to spend longer with the aliens that Jesy can’t be too irritated.

=

“I’m sure it was somewhere around here,” Leigh-Anne says, swatting an insect away. They’ve been tramping through the high grass for almost thirty minutes now and haven’t seen the ship anywhere.

“Wasn’t it closer to the road?” Perrie asks.

“Maybe?”

“Don’t you have some way of tracking the ship down?” Jade asks, curious. It seems like the sort of technology they would have, considering the whole space travel thing. Perrie reddens.

“I may have broken our tracker,” she mumbles.

“Is that what you chucked through my window?” Jesy asks.

“Maybe,” Perrie mutters. Jesy laughs.

“Aww, we’ll find it Pez,” Leigh-Anne says, slinging an arm around her shoulder and squeezing it. “Now that you say it I do vaguely remember a road. We thought it would be less suspicious looking with the disguise module and all.”

“Disguise module?” Jade asks, fascinated.

“The ship automatically blends in with its surroundings,” Leigh-Anne explains.

“In this case, it turned into one of those human ground ships. I think,” Perrie says, voice a little doubtful. They had left the hiding up to Hatchi since neither of them really knew anything about human transportation.

“Cars,” Jade says, helpfully. Perrie nods, fascinated, and Jesy rolls her eyes.

Wandering along the side of the road isn’t much more productive. They get a couple weird looks from passing drivers but no one offers any advice. There aren’t _any_ cars pulled over and stopped, let alone the small colorful one that Hatchi had turned into.

“Are you sure it was near here?” Jesy asks, irritation starting to bleed into her voice. Perrie and Leigh-Anne both shrug.

“Have you still got the tracker?” Jade asks. Leigh-Anne passes it over and Jade fights down a little shiver as their fingers brush.

“It doesn’t work, though,” Perrie points out.

“I know, but maybe I can get some kind of...feel from it? It’s connected with your ship, right?”

“Yeah,” Leigh-Anne says. “It’s technically a part of it. We can program it to tune into other frequencies but it always defaults back to the ship afterward.”

Jade looks down at the battered square of metal and plastic in her grasp, squinting. Nothing happens and she sighs in frustration. She can feel something hovering around the alien technology, but it’s faint and out of her reach.

“What is she doing?” Perrie stage whispers. Jade bites her lip, stomach twisting a little with nerves. She doesn’t like explaining her attempts at magic, especially to non-witches. She’s more likely to be met with weird looks and skepticism than understanding.

“I’m trying to get it to talk to me,” she says. At their confused faces she tries to explain more clearly. “Or, like, to tap into what it’s saying.”

“Should we all hold hands and chant,” Jesy says. Leigh-Anne doesn’t seem to notice the sarcasm practically dripping from her voice because she turns to look at Jade eagerly.

“Would that help?” Jesy snorts. Jade bites her lip.

“Actually, maybe? Since you two are sort of,” she waves her hand, unsure of how exactly to explain. “On the same energy wavelength?” Perrie looks confused but she shrugs and grabs Jade’s free hand. Leigh-Anne gently slips her fingers around Jade’s other wrist, careful not to dislodge the tracker. She and Perrie go to hold hands but Jesy huffs and shoves in between them.

“Hang on! You aren’t leaving me out of this spell thing. What if you all get sucked up into space and I’m just left standing here on my own?”

“It’s just energy focusing,” Perrie says confidently, like this isn’t all completely new to her. “Jade will keep us on the ground.” She lets Jesy hold her hand without complaining, though. All of them are fairly certain Jesy just doesn’t want to feel left out, but none of them are brave enough to point it out.

They’re _really_ getting weird looks now, standing by the side of the road holding hands, but no one notices. Jade because she’s focused on the tracker, and the other three because they’re watching Jade. Holding hands does help, actually. Jade can feel energy zinging around the circle and the distant buzzing of the device is magnified enough that she easily finds what she’s looking for. A map appears, hovering above where the dead tracker screen is. It’s faint and wavering, there and not-there in the same way auras are, but clear enough that she can tell where the ship is.

“Um. You’ve been towed,” Jade says. Jesy snorts and tugs her hands loose, the device going dark again as the circle breaks.

“What is towed?” Perrie asks, wrinkling her forehead.

“When you park somewhere you aren’t supposed to, they take your car away and lock it up,” Jesy explains, resigned. “I’m assuming neither of you have any money?”

“They’ve locked up Hatchi and we have to pay to ransom him!?” Perrie wails.

“What are we going to do?” Leigh-Anne says, starting to panic. “They don’t take PANDA currency on this planet!”

“What about pandas?” Jesy says, confused.

“Jesy and I will pay to get it out,” Jade interrupts. Jesy rolls her eyes but doesn’t contradict her. “You’ll get home, don’t worry.” She tries to ignore the way her stomach sinks at the thought of Leigh-Anne retreating back into dreams and visions so soon. It helps a little the way Leigh-Anne smiles and squeezes Jade’s hand in thanks.

“We have to wait until tomorrow, though,” Jesy says. “The lot will be closed by now.” Leigh-Anne and Perrie exchange nervous looks.

“Are you going to get in trouble?” Jade asks. “With your...boss?” She isn’t exactly sure how it works, but she has gathered from her visions that Leigh-Anne and Perrie are explorers of some kind and that they get yelled at a lot by a woman on a screen.

“Not yet,” Leigh-Anne says, optimistically. “We have a while before they’ll know anything has gone wrong. It’s just...” she trails off.

“We haven’t got anywhere to sleep,” Perrie finishes. Jade opens her mouth to offer her couch but Jesy beats her to it.

“We’re all staying at mine, then,” she says. “You too, Jade. You need to supervise these two.” She eyes the aliens with faux suspicion, but she’s clearly fighting back a smile. Perrie scoffs and tosses her hair.

“I don’t need supervision, thank you very much. I’m an adult!”

“An adult who broke my window,” Jesy says. “What are you going to do to my couch?”

“I have amazing couch etiquette!” They start walking back toward Jesy’s car, too engrossed in their bickering to notice Leigh-Anne and Jade have fallen behind.

Jade tries to keep her eyes on Jesy’s back, but she keeps darting glances at Leigh-Anne. The weird part is, Leigh-Anne is looking at her, too. Jade fights down a blush.

“What is it like?” Leigh-Anne blurts out, then looks embarrassed.

“What?” Jade asks.

“Being a witch? Like, I thought no one here really knew about us.”

“Oh,” Jade says. She looks back over at Jesy and Perrie but they’re still absorbed with each other.

“How _do_ you know about us?” Leigh-Anne tries to clarify. “I thought you could just see auras but you didn’t mention there being other non-humans on this planet.”

“I get visions,” Jade says, staring ahead fixedly. “A lot of us do, in one way or another. Some people see things in water or glass, or have dreams. We don’t really know why we see things and other people don’t.” When Leigh-Anne doesn’t say anything, Jade risks a glance at her. She doesn’t look horrified or uncomfortable, just interested. Emboldened, Jade continues. “Some of the women in my coven think it has to do with being able to feel certain kinds of energy. Like, certain people are just more sensitive to it and we happen to be among them.” She chews on her lip, looking at the ground and waiting for Leigh-Anne to respond.

“What are yours like?” When Jade looks confused, Leigh-Anne clarifies. “Your visions.” Jade blushes, which probably isn’t a good strategy for putting Leigh-Anne off this line of questioning.

“Um, they’re just. You know. Visions? Like, just regular things. Daydreams kind of. Normal.” she stammers out.

“What are they of?” Leigh-Anne asks. Jade trips over a crack in the sidewalk and nearly faceplants. Leigh-Anne grabs her elbow. “Am I prying? Sorry.” She says, but Jade doesn’t hear her. The second Leigh-Anne’s skin touches hers, it feels like being back in the circle again. Energy fizzes along her nerves and buzzes in her fingers.

“You,” Jade whispers, almost involuntarily.

“What?” Leigh-Anne asks, confused. Jade jerks her arm away.

“We should probably catch up,” she calls over her shoulder, already hurrying back to the relative safety of Jesy and Perrie’s presence.

“Um, okay.”

Jade avoids looking at her for the rest of the evening, but it doesn’t help. She can feel Leigh-Anne’s eyes on her.

=

Perrie and Leigh-Anne are far too excited to be in an actual human house to calm down and go right to sleep, especially after Jade explains what the television is for. Jesy herds them all onto the couch and goes to make popcorn.

“Jade, you’re in charge of picking a film.”

“Something cute!” Perrie yells. “With singing!” Leigh-Anne claps her hands.

“I know just the thing,” Jade says, grinning at them. By the time Jesy gets back with the popcorn, Leigh-Anne and Perrie are on the edge of their seats watching the Aladdin DVD menu.

“Jade, again?” Jesy says fondly.

“What? I love this movie,” Jade says, blushing a little.

“I’m sure it’s really great.” Leigh-Anne smiles at her earnestly. It’s sweet, but it only makes Jade blush more and look down at her lap. She’s not usually like this with pretty girls, but something about Leigh-Anne makes her so nervous. Well, not something. She knows exactly what it is.

Jade is aware, constantly, of the weight of her visions and her magic between them. She’s felt connected to Leigh-Anne for a long time, but Leigh-Anne doesn’t know her or anything about her. The lack of balance makes her a bit dizzy.

The tension in her shoulders eases a little once the movie starts. Perrie is really excited about the existence of popcorn and keeps trying to sing along with the songs in spite of never having heard them before. Jade suspects that she’s doing it partly because it makes Jesy laugh so hard, but she’s endeared anyway.

Leigh-Anne grins at Jade and scoots closer as Perrie and Jesy start arguing about what they would wish for if they found a genie.

“So what would you wish for?” she whispers.

“Peace and quiet, probably,” Jade whispers back, grinning. Leigh-Anne giggles.

“So you like this movie?” she says, face half-turned back toward the screen.

“Yeah. What do you think?” She tangles her fingers in her pajama pants nervously. The logical part of her says that compatibility doesn’t really depend on shared movie preferences, but she wants Leigh-Anne to like it anyway.

“It’s pretty good,” Leigh-Anne says. “I kind of want the princess to come back in, though. She’s my favorite.” Jade grins.

“Me too.”

As much as she loves Aladdin, it’s hard to watch the screen when she has the option of watching Leigh-Anne. She gets so into the movie, grinning and hugging herself during ‘A Whole New World’ and clutching Jade and Perrie’s hands nervously when Jafar turns into a snake. By the time Aladdin and Jasmine fly off together, Perrie is loudly declaring it’s the best movie she’s ever seen (“It’s the only one you’ve ever seen,” Jesy points out) and Leigh-Anne is bouncing up and down in her seat.

“Can we watch it again?” Perrie asks Jesy.

“You need to sleep,” Jesy says, channeling her inner stern mum.

“Just the part where they go around on the carpet?” Leigh-Anne says hopefully. Jesy rolls her eyes but grabs the remote and skips to the scene.

“Put on the captions so we can sing along,” Jade says. Perrie tackles her in a hug and the proceeds to sing the entirety of ‘A Whole New World’ while smashed up against Jade.

Jade can’t stop grinning, squashed into a pile of girls and singing along with her favorite movie, her hand still clutching Leigh-Anne’s. She thinks this is probably what flying on a magic carpet feels like, wild and new and free.

=

“So the options are couch or floor. I’m not giving up my bed and Jade gets dibs on the guest room,” Jesy says, pulling down a sleeping bag from the top of her linen cupboard.

“Maybe I should go home, that way no one has to sleep on the floor,” Jade says, pointedly not looking at the aliens. As much fun as she’s been having, she kind of wants to get some space to figure out what’s going on with her magic. Plus, it’s probably better not to get too attached. No matter how well they get along, Leigh-Anne has to leave soon and then things will go back to the way they used to.

Jesy clearly doesn’t get all of this from Jade’s significant look, though, because she just makes a face like Jade is being weird.

“They’ll be fine, it’s only one night. And we have to get up early to go to the impound place anyway.”

“Right,” Jade says. “I can sleep on the floor, then.” She means in Jesy’s room, hoping to avoid Leigh-Anne and Perrie altogether, but Jesy shrugs and unfurls the sleeping bag on the living room floor, next to the couch.

“Yay!” Perrie claps, dashing down the hall. “I call the spare room!”

“You don’t even know where you’re going,” Jesy yells, following her. Leigh-Anne sits on the couch and Jade fights down a sigh. So much for her plan. Now she gets to sleep on the uncomfortable floor and battle her instincts to stare at Leigh-Anne all night.

She lies down in the sleeping bag fully clothed and zips it up around her, making sure her face is turned away from the couch.

“Good night,” she mutters.

“Good night,” Leigh-Anne says tentatively.

Jade keeps her eyes stubbornly closed as the other girls get ready for bed around her. Someone, Jesy she thinks, lifts her up a little and slips a pillow under her head at some point. Perrie steps on her foot and starts loudly apologizing until Leigh-Anne and Jesy shush her. Finally, the lights go out and Jade feels some of the tightness in her spine dissipate.

She must drift off at some point, because the next thing she knows she’s jolting awake from a half-remembered anxiety dream and blinking her eyes open in the dark living room. She picks up her phone from where she’s left it next to the sleeping bag and squints at the screen. _4:07 am_ , the display reads. She fights back a groan, not wanting to wake up Leigh-Anne, and wriggles out of the sleeping bag.

Jade flips on the kitchen light, squinting against the sudden brightness, and then nearly screams. She does drop her phone.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” Leigh-Anne says, wincing. She bends over to pick up Jade’s phone but only succeeds in bumping their heads together.

“I’ve got it,” Jade mutters, grabbing her (thankfully unbroken) phone and straightening back up. “Why were you sitting in the dark?”

“I couldn’t find the light.”

“Oh. It’s right here.”

“Yeah,” Leigh-Anne says tilting her head a little. “I figured that out when you turned it on.”

“Right.” Jade looks down at her hands.

“I’m sorry if we’ve messed up your week,” Leigh-Anne says, after a moment of awkward silence. Jade bites her lip. Leigh-Anne doesn’t know anything about her visions, she reminds herself. Her nervousness is probably just coming across as annoyance or possibly downright rudeness. Jade forces a smile and resolves to do better.

“No, not at all.” Leigh-Anne nods like she doesn’t really believe her, and Jade casts about for something to say. Her eyes fall on the refrigerator and she perks up.

“Hey, have you ever had ice cream?”

=

Once they have bowls in front of them, chocolate with strawberries for Jade and vanilla topped with basically the entire contents of Jesy’s fridge for Leigh-Anne, it’s less awkward.

“This is so good!” Leigh-Anne says, gesturing with her spoon and nearly splattering ice cream everywhere. She blushes and Jade giggles.

“It is. Particularly with eight hundred different toppings,” she teases.

“I couldn’t pick!” Leigh-Anne protests. Jade smiles and looks down at her bowl. It gets quiet again, but the silence isn’t awkward this time. It’s soft and companionable, Jade’s foot slipping between Leigh-Anne’s ankles under the table.

“I’m sorry if I’ve been...a bit weird,” Jade starts slowly. There’s a definite possibility Leigh-Anne will find her visions creepy or invasive, but she feels silly continuing to hide it. This might be the only chance she has to get some answers, and the aliens are leaving tomorrow. Worst comes to worst, it’s only one awkward night. Still, she keeps her eyes down as she talks, avoiding looking at the other girl. “I mentioned I have visions?” Leigh-Anne hums in acknowledgement. Jade takes a deep breath. “They’re of you. Well, not just you. Sometimes your ship, too. Weirdly I haven’t seen Perrie in them, I don’t think. But yeah. Just, your missions and you flying. Stuff like that. Nothing,” Jade swallows awkwardly. “Nothing private or anything like that.”

Leigh-Anne doesn’t say anything, but she doesn’t unhook their feet either. Jade looks up after a moment and almost giggles at the expression on her face. She looks adorably confused, spoon halfway between the bowl and her mouth. The ice cream starts dripping onto the table and Jade gently pulls the spoon from Leigh-Anne’s unresisting fingers. She sets it back into her bowl.

“Sorry, should I not have told you? I felt like you sensed something being off with me, but maybe I was wrong.” She twists her fingers together on the tabletop and starts to pull away, but Leigh-Anne reaches out and grabs her hand.

“No, it’s...you should have. It’s flattering I guess? Or, like, I mean, not that you are choosing to see me or anything. I don’t think that,” Leigh-Anne laughs awkwardly. Jade bites her lip.

“It’s weird is all,” Jade pushes on. “Seeing you in person. It feels like,” she waves her hand around beside her face, “condensed or something.”

“Condensed,” Leigh-Anne says, wrinkling her brow.

“Not in a can of milk way,” Jade giggles. “Just, you feel sort of connected to my magic? Like, it feels stronger around you.” Leigh-Anne still looks lost and Jade sighs in frustration. “I’m not explaining it very well.” Leigh-Anne shrugs, face clearing.

“Well, maybe it doesn’t really have to make sense. Maybe it’s just how things are.”

“What do you mean?”

“Like,” Leigh-Anne purses her lips, blowing air out. “Maybe we just have this connection, for whatever reason. It seems like a lot of this stuff you humans call magic has to do with connecting to the rest of the universe, right? So I guess it’s something to do with that, probably. For some reason, your...energy projection or whatever has attached itself to me or my ship. And then maybe it just stuck around because it’s as good a way as any to see the solar system.” Leigh-Anne shrugs and Jade struggles to keep her face inquisitive rather than disappointed. Hearing Leigh-Anne explain her visions that way, it makes a lot of sense. But it’s also a bit of a let down, like something she thought was mystical and beautiful is actually just random chance.

“Probably. Are you going to finish that?” she says, sticking her spoon into Leigh-Anne’s bowl. As a distraction, it’s fairly effective. The alien girl giggles and yanks her ice cream away, squealing when she dribbles some on the floor. Jade’s spoon pursues the bowl, forcing Leigh-Anne up and away from the table. Their ridiculous chase around the kitchen only ends when a furious Perrie stumbles in and yells at them to go back to bed.

Jade, taking the couch at Leigh-Anne’s insistence, curls in on herself a little sadly once the lights go out. _It’s fine,_ she tells herself. _There’s no reason to be disappointed._ She falls quickly into a deep dreamless sleep, so busy telling herself that nothing out of the ordinary is happening that she doesn’t feel Leigh-Anne’s eyes on the back of her head.

=

Perrie is almost gleeful when she wakes them up early the next morning. She pounces on Leigh-Anne, exacting her revenge for being disturbed in the middle of the night through the judicious application of elbows.

“Perrie!” Leigh-Anne yelps so loudly that it wakes Jade up.

“Whazzit?” Jade says blearily. Perrie has moved on to tickling Leigh-Anne, who is squealing and trying to writhe away from her. Her flailing arm practically smacks Jade in the face and Jade burrows back under her blankets where it’s safe and people aren’t trying to wake her up.

“Enough of that,” Jesy says evenly, tugging Perrie off Leigh-Anne. “I can’t even leave you lot alone for five minutes.”

“She started it!” Leigh-Anne and Perrie say at the same time.

“How in the galaxy did _I_ start it. I was sleeping!” Leigh-Anne protests.

“You woke me up last night!” Jesy rolls her eyes.

“Go get dressed, both of you. I want to get to the lot before it gets too crowded.” Perrie sticks her tongue out at Leigh-Anne but heads back toward the bedrooms without launching a second attack.

“Why is everyone so loud?” Jade moans.

“Sorry,” Leigh-Anne whispers, perching her chin on the pillow next to Jade. “She didn’t get you too, did she? Perrie sometimes has issues with boundaries.” Jade pokes her head out from the covers and smiles a little.

“No. I tunnelled my way to safety.” Leigh-Anne grins at her and Jade’s breath catches. She’s suddenly aware of how close Leigh-Anne is; their faces are only inches apart.

“Are you two up?” Jesy says from the door, and they startle apart. “I don’t know how you could have slept through that. We really do need to get going.”

“We’re coming,” Jade grumbles. Leigh-Anne reaches out a hand and tugs her to her feet. Jade fights back a smile when Leigh-Anne doesn’t immediately drop her hand.

Jesy and Perrie are in the spare room, bickering about clothing choices (“It’s too early for that much neon pink!” “You’re just jealous because I look cuter than you!” And then at Jesy’s offended sound. “Just this once! Not, like, generally.”) so Jade and Leigh-Anne have the bathroom to themselves.

“I think Perrie’s going to miss Jesy when we leave,” Leigh-Anne says, staring into Jade’s eyes.

“Yeah, same,” Jade says a little breathlessly. “I mean, I think that Jesy will miss Perrie. Definitely.” Leigh-Anne smiles and drops her eyes. Jade grabs at the toothbrush cup for something to do.

“Thanks,” Leigh-Anne says, grabbing the green toothbrush from the holder. Jade takes her yellow one and sets the cup back on the counter.

They don’t talk, brushing their teeth at Jesy’s little bathroom sink in silence, but it’s companionable. Jade accidentally meets Leigh-Anne’s eyes in the mirror and grins at her. Leigh-Anne crosses her eyes back. It feels so easy between them, and a giddy feeling bubbles up in Jade’s stomach before she remembers. Leigh-Anne will be gone in a few hours, retreating back into visions and all-too-short memories. She fights to keep her face even as the happiness sours into melancholy.

Jade is just rinsing when the door bangs all the way open and knocks her into Leigh-Anne, who steadies her easily.

“Oops, sorry,” Perrie says, covering her mouth. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Jade says, forcing a smile. Perrie pats her shoulder and grabs the pink toothbrush.

“That Jesy is a stubborn one,” she says, raising her voice. She raises an eyebrow in anticipation of Jesy’s reaction.

“Just finish getting ready!” Jesy yells back.

Perrie rolls her eyes and shoves the toothbrush into her mouth. Jesy pops her head through the door, squashing them all even further into the tiny bathroom.

“You two are just standing here! Honestly, I’ve been ready for ages.” Perrie mumbles something around her toothbrush, but when Jesy shoots her a look she just smiles angelically and starts rinsing her mouth out.

“All ready!” she chirps brightly. “Let’s go rescue Hatchi!”

=

Jesy strides confidently up to the lot monitor, head thrown back. Jade is next to her and Leigh-Anne and Perrie are trailing behind nervously.

“We’re here to get our car back,” Jesy says, once the little plastic window opens.

“Driver’s license and proof of insurance,” the man drones. Jesy and Jade exchange glances.

“Don’t we just have to pay a fine or something?” Jade asks.

“You also have to pay a fine, but first I need your license and insurance,” he says, voice still completely expressionless.

“What’s insurance?” Perrie whispers to Leigh-Anne, clearly not quietly enough if the glare the lot monitor levels at them is any indication.

“Come back when you have the proper paperwork,” he says, sliding the window shut again. Jesy bristles and opens her mouth but Jade tugs her away.

“Let’s come up with a plan, okay? We’ll figure it out,” Jade says, more confidently than she feels. Perrie wraps her fingers through the chain link fence surrounding the cars.

“Hatchi,” she says mournfully.

“This is the worst failure we’ve ever had,” Leigh-Anne groans. “We’re going to get demoted!” Jesy purses her lips and doesn’t say anything. Jade twines her fingers around Leigh-Anne’s wrist comfortingly.

“There has to be another way,” Perrie says, a little wild-eyed. “We have to get our ship back, or who knows when someone will come get us!” Jesy shushes her, indicating the lot monitor with her eyebrows. He’s still standing behind the plastic window, glaring at them in irritation.

“We’ll talk about it back at the house, okay?” Jesy says, coaxing Perrie away from the fence.

“Goodbye, Hatchi,” Perrie whispers sadly, waving to the little car. Jesy rolls her eyes and tugs on Perrie’s wrist.

They troop dejectedly back to Jesy’s, quiet and subdued except for the occasional sniffle from Perrie.

“What are we going to do?” Leigh-Anne says softly, looking at Jade. Jesy eyes the two of them a little suspiciously but doesn’t say anything. Jade doesn’t even notice, too focused on how sad Leigh-Anne looks. She shrugs helplessly.

“We’re going to figure it out,” Jesy says determinedly. “But first, we need coffee.”

“What’s coffee?” Perrie asks innocently.

Exposing Perrie to Starbucks, or, more accurately, exposing Starbucks to Perrie, was probably not Jesy’s most well thought out idea. Perrie’s eyes practically pop out of her head as she takes in the vast array of sugary sweet drinks listed on the menu.

“What are all of these?” she says, voice almost reverent. Leigh-Anne, who has already had ice cream, is practically an old hand at sugar by now. She calmly picks something out, twining her fingers through Jade’s as they wait in line. Jade gets a little distracted, thinking about what it _means_ that Leigh-Anne keeps grabbing her hand, and ends up just blurting out the first drink she thinks of after the barista clears his throat at her three times in irritation.

Jesy is waiting for Perrie to pick something with an expression Jade thinks is meant to be impatient but is really too fond by half.

“What do you have?” Perrie asks, leaning over someone’s table. “That looks amazing.” The woman blinks at her in surprise and Jesy pulls Perrie away.

“I’m sorry. She’s…uh…” Jesy fumbles for an excuse.

“It’s okay,” the woman says, smiling. She turns to Perrie. “I got a Peppermint Mocha Frappuccino,” she leans in toward Perrie conspiratorially. “I know it’s not really a summer drink but it’s pretty good.” Perrie claps her hands in excitement and spins back around toward the counter.

“I’ll have a Peppermint Mocha Frappuccino!” she practically yells. Jesy winces, muttering something that sounds like “So much sugar,” but she pays for Perrie’s drink without (too much) complaining.

Perrie drinks the whole thing before they’re even walked a block.

“It’s making my head really cold,” she whines.

“Slow down! You’re drinking it too fast,” Jesy says. Perrie sticks out her tongue and drinks even faster. Leigh-Anne giggles and sips her tea.

“It’s gone already?” she pouts, looking at the empty cup. Jesy plucks it out of her hand and starts walking toward a bin. She throws it in and Perrie tries to reach in after it. “I wanted to keep the cup!” she complains when Jesy grabs her hands.

“It’ll get all sticky and attract bugs.”

“There aren’t any bugs in space,” Perrie points out. She droops, suddenly. “You’re probably right, though. Who knows when we’ll get back.”

“Aww, cheer up,” Jesy says, looking around for something to distract her. “Let’s go walk around the park for a bit, yeah?”

“Okay.”

Perrie looks doubtful, initially, but her enthusiasm quickly returns in full force.

“Swings!” she yells, barreling toward them. “I’ve never ridden them at this gravimetry before!”

“Slow down,” Jesy shouts after her. She rolls her eyes at Leigh-Anne and Jade as if to say ‘what can you do,’ and then takes off after Perrie.

“D’you want to swing?” Jade asks Leigh-Anne.

“No,” Leigh-Anne replies, shaking her head. “I’m fine here with you.” Jade smiles into her cup.

“Let’s sit for a bit,” she says, pointing over at a shaded wooden bench. It’s quiet between them, but not uncomfortable. Leigh-Anne’s let go of her hand to hold her cup more securely, but she’s sitting close enough to Jade that their thighs are pressed up against each other. It’s nice. “Where do you think you’ll go after this?” Jade asks, after a moment. Leigh-Anne looks at her.

“Not sure. We usually just go wherever they tell us to.”

“They?” Jade asks, genuinely curious. “The woman on the screen who’s always yelling?” Leigh-Anne looks blank for a moment, and then bursts out laughing.

“Yeah. She’s in charge of our fleet.” She bites her lip. “I forgot that you’ve seen us at work. We’re kind of embarrassingly terrible,” she says, looking away again.

“Nah,” Jade says, knocking their shoulders together gently. “You always look like you’re having fun. That’s pretty important. And your job is helping people all around the galaxy. I think that’s pretty cool.”

“I guess that’s true,” Leigh-Anne says, smiling softly at her. “We do our best, Pez and me. Like, on our last mission, for example, we found this pegacorn.”

Leigh-Anne gets immersed in telling the story, nearly spilling her tea several times as she gestures until Jade finally takes it out of her hands and sets it on the ground between them. Leigh-Anne grins at her and keeps talking, pulling Jade in easily with her earnest sweetness and her bright eyes. The story isn’t uninteresting, but Jade finds herself paying more attention to the way Leigh-Anne’s expression shifts than the words themselves. She finds herself leaning forward unconsciously, eager to soak up as much of the other girl’s presence as she can.

They’re pulled out of their conversation by a commotion over at the swings.

“Leigh!” Perrie yells. “Look how high I’m going! Come join me. We’ll get home this way!” She giggles at her own joke and then, right at the highest part of the swing’s arc, flings herself off into space.

Jesy’s eyes widen as Perrie soars toward her, but she doesn’t have time to move out of the way before the alien girl is slamming into her and sending them both crashing into the ground.

“Oops,” Perrie mumbles into Jesy’s chest.

“Ouch,” Jesy moans.

“Are you okay?” Leigh-Anne asks anxiously, running toward them. Jade follows, pushing down her disappointment at the sudden interruption. She gives Perrie a hand up and then peers down at Jesy.

“Can you get up?” she asks.

“That’s it,” Jesy grumbles, climbing to her feet. “No more sugar for you, ever.”

Perrie pouts about that the rest of the way home.

=

Perrie, initially the most devastated of all of them about the loss of the ship, has also bounced back the fastest. She’s poking around Jesy’s cabinets, looking for who knows what, and is grinning to herself a little.

“Where do you keep clothes?”

“What?” Jesy asks, baffled.

“There aren’t any clothes in here.”

“It’s the kitchen,” Jesy says. She doesn’t even sound annoyed, just a little baffled. Perrie puts her hands on her hips.

“Where are the clothes? Leigh and I can just shift our suits but you two need something to wear.”

“Perrie, is this really the time to worry about being fashionable,” Leigh-Anne says tentatively. Perrie rolls her eyes and puts a hand on her hip.

“This is exactly the time to worry about being fashionable. We’re going to get our ship back through the use of creative disguise.”

“What.”

“Don’t be so skeptical, Jesminda. I have good ideas sometimes, you know! And this one is brilliant,” she pauses, trying to build suspense, but everyone just looks confused. “We’re going to break into the lot and steal our ship back!” Perrie exclaims. Jade almost laughs, but the sound dies in her throat when she takes in their expressions. Perrie looks vindicated, and Jesy looks frighteningly thoughtful. Leigh-Anne is the only one who looks suitably horrified.

“Perrie! We can’t reveal ourselves on an unaware planet! That’s really dangerous!”

“We won’t get caught,” Perrie says, waving a hand dismissively. “That’s what the clothes are for.”

“I do have that black jumpsuit,” Jesy says consideringly.

“No,” Jade says firmly. “There is no way I’m doing this.”

=

“I can’t believe you talked me into this,” Jade moans. Perrie shushes her.

“It will be fine,” Jesy whispers dismissively. “We climb over the fence, grab the spaceship, and get out.”

“What if there are security cameras?” Jade says.

“That’s why we’re wearing masks and Olivia is in disguise,” Perrie whispers. She points to the cat tucked under Leigh-Anne’s arm. Olivia is wearing her own miniature black outfit and a sour expression.

“Plus, can’t you control electronics?” Jesy asks. Jade turns to stare at her, completely lost.

“What?”

“Your magic? Like with the tracker thing?” Leigh-Anne explains. Jade stops walking. They’re all three looking at her.

“That’s the plan?” she squeaks. Perrie shushes her again. “I don’t even know how that worked! And it was alien technology, not human.” Jesy shrugs and goes back to walking.

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out.” Jade gapes at her back. Two days ago, Jesy was so skeptical about magic she couldn’t even attend a coven meeting without offending everyone and now she seems to believe that Jade can just wave her hand and do anything she wants?

“There is no way this is going to work,” Jade moans. Leigh-Anne pats her back comfortingly.

They pause at the edge of the fence, supposedly for Jade to feel for security cameras. She ends up just standing there awkwardly with three pairs of eyes on her. She bites her lip, trying to focus but nothing happens.

“I don’t feel anything,” she says, finally. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Leigh-Anne says, grabbing her hand briefly. She goes to pull away after a few seconds but Jade doesn’t let go. “We’ll just...”

“Wait,” Jade wrinkles her forehead in concentration. She does feel something, buzzing right at the edge of her mind. It was so faint she could barely sense it before, but with Leigh-Anne touching her it gets stronger. It doesn’t feel like cameras, though. It feels like... “wires.”

“Wires?” Perrie asks, confused.

“I can’t feel the cameras, but I can feel the wires, the parts of them that are connected back to each other.” Jade wrinkles her nose. It’s a bizarre feeling, like touching a network of veins or something.

“Can you turn them off?” Jesy asks.

“I think so,” Jade says slowly. She pinches down, twisting with her mind at the point where the bright lines of electricity all connect.

“Did you do it?” Perrie asks excitedly. Jade frowns.

“I’m not sure. I don’t feel them any more, but we should probably keep our masks on anyway?”

“Let’s move fast. We don’t know if there’s a night guard,” Jesy says.

She starts climbing the fence, her movements sharp and determined. The rest of them stare up at it a little apprehensively. Jesy turns and gestures impatiently as she swings a leg over the top. Leigh-Anne takes a deep breath and goes to follow her, then flinches in surprise as Olivia launches out of her arms. Before they can panic, though, she reappears on the other side and starts winding around Jesy’s ankles. Jesy scoops the cat up and Leigh-Anne starts to climb, slower and more carefully than Jesy but still relatively quickly. Jade goes next, emboldened by the success of the other two, and Leigh-Anne steadies her as she drops to the ground on the other side.

“Come on, Pez,” Leigh-Anne whispers. Perrie is staring nervously up at the top of the fence, not moving.

“It’s really high,” she says, biting her lip.

“So is space,” Jesy says. Jade shoots her a look. Jesy sighs and passes Olivia back to Leigh-Anne. She starts climbing the fence again.

“What are you doing?” Perrie asks, confused.

“Going with you, obviously. I’ll go behind you, so you better not fall and squash me.”

“I’m not going to squash you!” Perrie tries to sound indignant but it mostly just comes out relieved. With Jesy spotting her, she makes it over the fence quickly.

“Do you have the map?” Jesy asks, once they are safely on the ground. Leigh-Anne nods. Before leaving the house, Jade had used the tracker to draw out a crude map of the lot and pinpoint the relative location of the ship. She points them in the right direction and they start walking.

“I told you this would work,” Perrie says brightly.

“Don’t jinx us!” Leigh-Anne exclaims.

“It’ll be fine,” Perrie says dismissively, just as they hear a low growling sound coming from behind them. Two huge dogs emerge from behind one of the cars, wearing matching spiked collars and furious expressions.

“Uhh,” Jade says, voice pitching up. “Nice doggies.” One of the dogs lunges at her and she clambers up on top of a car, narrowly avoiding teeth.

“Jesy, do something!” Leigh-Anne yelps, scrambling up next to Jade and clinging to her for balance. Olivia has climbed up onto her shoulder and is hissing at the dogs. Leigh-Anne attempts to detach her claws without falling off the car.

“Me! What am I supposed to do?”

“You own a pet shop! Can’t you talk to animals?”

“What? Of course I can’t.” Jesy shoves them over so she can squeeze onto the car roof as well. The dogs circle them, snapping at their ankles. “Perrie, get up here! You’re going to get hurt!”

“Come here puppies! I’ve got some lovely treats for you!”

“Perrie,” Jesy snaps, just as Leigh-Anne says, “This isn’t the time!” The dogs turn away from them and amble toward Perrie. Jesy moans and covers her face.

“They’re going to eat her!”

“Perrie, come on!” Leigh-Anne says, voice urgent. The dogs are getting closer and closer and Perrie is just standing there, some crumbled up bacon in her outstretched palm. Jesy sighs and goes to climb off the car but Perrie glances up and shakes her head.

“We are fine just the three of us, aren’t we? Yes we are,” she coos in a baby voice to the dogs. To Jade’s utter shock, one of them plops down at Perrie’s feet and the other one gently scoops up the bacon and then licks her hand gratefully.

“What,” Jesy says.

“You are just the sweetest little puppies! Yes you are! Yes you are!” The dog at her feet is now thumping his tail enthusiastically and the other one is attempting to kiss her face. “Aww, Leigh can we keep them?”

“Can we...what?”

“They’re sad here! They want to come with us!”

“We can’t just take someone’s dogs, Perrie,” Leigh-Anne says practically. “And anyway I don’t think space is safe for them. There are too many cats.”

“I’ll take care of them! Come on, please!” Perrie gives her a pleading look and both the dogs swivel to look at her. Leigh-Anne swears she actually sees one pout.

“Well,” Jesy says, sliding off the car. “Now that your new friends aren’t trying to eat us, can we get to the ship?”

Perrie lags behind, chatting to the two dogs eagerly following her, and Jesy and Leigh-Anne keep exchanging exasperated glances. Jade is too focused on following the map and trying to monitor the cameras at the same time to really pay attention to the other girls. It’s for the best, anyway. If she thinks about Leigh-Anne and Perrie leaving her chest clenches up painfully.

“Hatchi!” Leigh-Anne yells suddenly, breaking into a run with Perrie hot on her heels. Jesy glances around nervously but their noise doesn’t seem to have alerted anyone.

By the time Jesy and Jade reach them, the alien girls both have their arms wrapped around a tie-dyed Volkswagen bug. Olivia has already teleported into the car and is grooming herself on the back seat.

“No wonder it got towed. That’s hardly inconspicuous, is it?” Jesy points out. The other girls ignore her. Perrie’s turned toward them, eyes starting to glisten with tears.

“Thank you for your help,” she says, a little tremulously. “We never would have made it without you two.”

“I’m sure you would have figured something out,” Jesy says, pulling her into a hug. Jade and Leigh-Anne just kind of stare at each other until Perrie yells, “Group hug!” and squishes them all together.

“Well,” Leigh-Anne says as they pull reluctantly apart. “I guess we had better go.” Behind her, the car starts shifting and expanding, turning slowly into a small spacecraft. The part of the lot they’re in is mostly empty, but it still looks like it will be a tight fit.

“Yeah,” Perrie says. Neither of them move.

“Please remove blockages so I can fully transform,” a mechanical voice says.

“We’re coming, Hatchi,” Perrie huffs. “Lower the ramp. We’ll just squeeze in for now and you can transform once we get in the air.”

A ramp appears from the side of the ship, clanging onto the hood of one of the nearby cars as it extends. Perrie rolls her eyes in irritation and then smiles again, giving them a final wave as she and Leigh-Anne turn to go.

“Stop being bratty,” Perrie says to the ship.

“He’s just following your instructions,” Leigh-Anne points out as they start walking up the ramp. Olivia has apparently gotten settled into the ship with no help but Perrie is being flanked by the two guard dogs. She’s taken off their spiked collars and replaced them with two brightly colored ribbons she got from who knows where, so they look much less menacing and more adorable.

“He knew that car was there!” Is the last thing Jesy and Jade hear before the aliens disappear into the ship. The ramp starts going up and Jade fights back tears. Jesy throws an arm around her shoulders but doesn’t say anything. They watch the slowly shrinking gap at the base of the ship, both trying not to think about the fact that once it closes Leigh-Anne and Perrie will be gone. Forever.

Abruptly, the entry ramp stops ascending.

“Hey,” Perrie says, poking her head through the small opening. “How would you ladies like to see space?”

“How many times have I told you not to do this? You’re going to decapitate yourself one day,” Leigh-Anne says. She’s also sticking her head out, though, so Perrie ignores her.

Jesy and Jade exchange glances.

“I guess I could have someone else look after the shop for a few days,” Jesy says hesitantly, glancing over at Perrie. Jade looks at Leigh-Anne and doesn’t even have to think.

“Definitely, definitely yes.” Leigh-Anne giggles and pulls her head back into the ship. After a few seconds, the ramp starts lowering again and Perrie claps her hands.

“Space trip! Trip to space!”

“You’re going to fall on your head,” Jesy says, tugging Perrie up to her feet. Perrie just laughs and lets her, wrapping a hand around her wrist once she’s up.

“Come see the controls! I bet you’ll be a natural at flying.” Jesy rolls her eyes but looks pleased as she lets Perrie drag her off.

Jade’s left standing with Leigh-Anne on the still open ramp, grinning so hard her face is starting to hurt.

“So, where do you want to go?” Leigh-Anne asks. Jade, emboldened by the fact that she has a little longer, that they don’t have to separate yet, answers honestly.

“I don’t really care, as long as you’re there, too.” Leigh-Anne blushes, looking down and entwining their hands.

“Well, then.” She pauses for a second, then looks up and grins. “Do you trust me?” She reaches out her hand, cocking a hip and raising an eyebrow in an imitation of Aladdin. Jade giggles, biting her lip.

“Yes,” she says, and slides her hand into Leigh-Anne’s.

“Oi!” Jesy yells. “You two can cuddle later. Get in the ship! We’ve got a galaxy to see.”


End file.
